The present invention relates to furniture and, more particularly, to an improved recliner assist apparatus for articles of furniture such as chairs, sofas and loveseats.
Conventionally, recliner type seating units (i.e. chairs, sofas, loveseats and the like), generally require a predetermined distance between an adjacent wall surface and the seatback to avoid contact therebetween during reclined operation. In addition, loose seat cushions are not generally used in most recliner type seating units due to the height requirements associated with operably supporting the mechanical recliner mechanism under the seat.
Reclining mechanisms typically generate a relatively large amount of frictional drag which must be overcome for smooth movement between an "upright" and a "tilted" position. In particular, lighter weight seat occupants must normally exert a deliberate leveraged thrust or force, in addition to pulling the actuator lever, for completely extending the leg rest and moving the seat section to its "tilted" position. Moreover, it is often difficult for the seat occupant to return to the upright position from the "tilted" or a fully "reclined" position due to the height and the upward angular tilt of the seat relative to the reclined seatback. As such, the occupant must exert a relatively large and deliberate leveraged force to return the reclined seat section to the full upright position. Another drawback associated with recliners is that the leg rest assembly cannot be retracted to its stowed position from an extended elevated position until after the seat occupant has completely returned the seat section to its full upright position.
As is known, virtually all traditional recliner type seating units require the seat occupant to either forcibly urge a portion of the seating section forwardly (i.e. by pulling on an arm portion of the chair), or manually move some type of actuating lever to initiate movement of the leg rest assembly from a retracted position toward an extended and elevated position. While most recliner type seating units have proven to be generally successful, it nevertheless would be desirable to permit the seat occupant to deliberately initiate movement of the leg rest assembly toward its extended position with virtually no physical effort. Such a leg rest release arrangement would be particularly advantageous for elderly or handicapped persons who typically have difficulty, because of lack of strength, in using conventional release means (i.e. movement of levers or gripping an arm portion of a recliner chair) to initiate the extending action of a leg rest assembly and/or tilting action of the seat assembly.
The above described traditional means for initiating reclining movement present additional problems when used with a seating section intended for use in a modular seating unit such as a modular sofa. If the seating section is not one of the corner sections but rather a center section of the seating unit, the seating unit is disposed between outer seating sections thus preventing the use of any graspable lever member on the side of the seating section. Since the center seating section has no arms, the occupant cannot initiate extension of a leg rest member thereof by simply pushing on the arm members. Accordingly, the use of center seating sections having extendable leg rests present particular problems with regard to initiating extending movement of the leg rest assembly conveniently and with a minimum amount of effort on the part of the occupant.